I WOKE WITH a start.
Elias's room smelled different from mine. It was slightly smaller, muskier smelling and altogether noisier. There was a ruckus beyond his door. The illuminated screen of my cellphone said it was 7am. I was confined by a warm arm.
Elias had this unique scent, one that reminded me of my own father's aftershave. I missed my dad.
We were both fully clothed - I couldn't remember the last time I slept fully clothed. I slipped out of his arms, crawled to the edge of his bed to retrieve his black hoodie, before jumping to the ground. The thud foot meeting hardwood made Elias stir.
"Want me to go with you?" Elias asked, half asleep.
"I'm good. Do I use your hoodie?"
"Yeah, sure," Elias groaned into his pillow. I found it strangely endearing.
I took one last backward glance at Elias, who had returned to sleep in shirt and jeans from yesterday. He'd be Adonis if such a wild ideology were to be solidified. The hallway was relatively empty when I pulled his door open.
I was a short person. At 5'4", Elias's hoodie covered my entire dress. Through the screen of a CCTV, I could pass as a short male in short shorts. But through the eyes of a human male with reasonable intelligence, I definitely resembled female.
I halted in my tracks as I neared the elevator. There was someone waiting, he had his back to me, so he had yet to notice me. I inhaled a humungous breath.
I debated if I should take the stairs. It was eight floors, I'd definitely run into more people if I took the stairs. So I gathered what little courage I had and entered the elevator when it arrived.
I kept my gaze downcast. I could only see the other person's feet. But I knew, without a doubt that he would be staring at me.
"So... Who'd you bang?" The stranger finally asked.
I chewed on my lower lip, not daring to look up. "I forgot his name."
"I admire how you're not even trying to dress as a male."
I decided, at that period of time, to grace the stranger with a deadpanned expression. But lo and behold, it wasn't a stranger.
"You," I gaped. "Hello, Jaxon Ortega."
His expression remained blank. "I thought you sounded familiar."
"Are you going to tell on me?"
He shook his head, slowly. "I'm no snitch."
When the elevator door dinged open, we were on the ground floor. And the lobby wasn't empty. Jaxon, with way faster reflexes than me, pushed my head down with more force than required. With the same hand pressing my head down, he led me out of the boys' dorm.
I heard whistles from the occupants of the lobby.
"Main man Jaxon ain't dry anymore," someone called out.
"Who's the chick, man?"
Jaxon didn't even bother to reply these people, at least not verbally.
"Love it when he gives the middle finger," one of them laughed.
We didn't stop walking until we reached Block Augustine, which was one of the main school blocks. Jaxon's facial expression was unreadable for most part, but I could recognize a tinge of irritation.
"Tell whoever you banged that he's an irresponsible ass for trying to smuggle you in, in a dress."
I crossed my arm, preparing to refute with an indignant response. But I was cut off.
"It's not that it doesn't happen. Just don't get caught, please. First of all, it goes on your permanent record. Secondly, you're going to make your faction look bad. I don't care about other factions but my faction - which is also yours - in case you haven't noticed, have a reputation to uphold."
My argument died right then in my throat. My mouth opened and close. I finally settled on a, "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."
Jaxon flashed me a strained smile. "Don't get me wrong, do whatever, or whoever you want. Just don't get caught."
"Does it happen a lot?"
"What, people sneaking into restricted places?"
I nodded.
Jaxon shook his head. "First of all, there are only a handful of students in this school with single rooms - "
"Who?"
"Are you that desperate for sex?"
"No," I blushed and looked away. Just wanted to know who's rich and who's not.
"Secondly, you get in serious shit if you're caught. Most students go to nearby hotels. The more adventurous archetype do it in the forest."
"Do we have Calculus first period today?"
Jaxon nodded. "We do."
"Is that where we're going?"
"That is where I'm going. You need to change into your uniform, miss."
Jaxon was insanely popular for whatever reason. Nearly everyone who passed him, greeted him. It was a very strange contrast to the invisibility treatment I'd been having for the past week. I basked in what little fame by association I could.
"Take off that hoodie for fuck's sake," Jaxon said into my right ear.
My expression turned indignant. "Why?"
"Because it's obviously a male person's hoodie. And I don't want people to talk."
"Oh," I said as I unzipped my hoodie.
"Or don't. This is your stop. Do whatever you want."
I was puzzled for several seconds until I came to realization that we had arrived at the entrance to the female dorms. And Jaxon was already walking away.
Throughout the entire process of taking a quick shower and changing into uniform, I couldn't dissociate myself from the events that took place the night prior right up to the present moment. I hadn't had sex with Elias, I don't know why I didn't bother to correct Jaxon.
At eight o'clock sharp, I found myself outside the Calculus classroom. My teacher, Ms. Elliot, was pacing the front of the classroom. It served as positive indication that I was early for class. I took my usual seat at the back of the class.
"Today," Ms. Elliot clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "We will be having a test."
Fuck.
I was trying my best to contain hyperventilation as she handed test sheets out. Everyone had a table partner except for me. I suddenly found it outrageously unfair that people with partners could cheat easily if they wanted to. It was thirty of them against four of Ms. Elliot's eyes. (Four because Ms. Elliot wore spectacles.)
I tried to calm myself down by telling myself that I had watched countless YouTube videos on Calculus, and that it should be enough to secure me a pass.
But let me tell you, at Richmond Park Academy, they really want to push students. They did so by issuing HARD TESTS. It was done to ensure tip-top discipline and excellence.
My entire mind blanked when I saw the first question. All I knew was that 'volume of revolution' sounded insanely cool.
In the second question, one had to differentiate sin x. I stared blankly, trying my best to contain laughter lest people begin thinking that I wasn't mentally okay. Last I checked, sin x was Trigonometry, and I wasn't taking Trigonometry. So I was just really confused as to why I had to differentiate sin x. I decided to write this down in the answer space.
The third question had an equation with 2 unknowns bounded by a and 0, and it asked to find the value of a. I stared at the question for a very long time before explaining that it was impossible to find a because there were too many unknowns. I wiped away the sweat forming above my brows.
The fourth question prompted the usage of the trapezium rule to find an approximation to a shaded area bounded by a curve with a complicated equation. My mind hurt merely staring at the question. But lucky for my quick wittedness, I managed to crap a paragraph about how we are all infinite particles vibrating within a universe that does not care and that when we die none of this will matter because we will all cease to exist.
I appeared to be the first person done with the test. But I didn't want to show off so I pretended to check over my answers - which boasted a level of boredom similar to that of watching crops grow.
Finally, the hour came to an end and as the woman walked around to collect our test papers, I considered committing suicide; I really did. I didn't want to give up my test paper. But Ms. Elliot was heartless and probably facing a broken marriage. She snatched the paper up with little remorse.
After several agonising hours of Physics and History, it was finally time for Chemistry class, which would take place in a classroom instead of the lab today. Dr. Nguyen was writing the words 'TEST 1' on the board when I stepped in.
I halted in my fucking tracks for three seconds before I made my way to the empty seat beside Elias.
I didn't bother saying hi, and neither did he. From the front of the class, Dr. Nguyen was counting test papers. I felt this stab of panic course my veins. What kind of heartless God would land two surprise tests (in the same day) on my incapable shoulders?
Dr. Nguyen from the front, told us, "I noticed many of you still do not have the periodic table, along with cations and anions memorized."
"Who the fuck memorizes that," I murmured under my breath.
I could see Elias cracking a smile in my peripheral vision. "You don't know the song?"
"What song?" I asked back, slightly annoyed. Mostly due to the knowledge that there would be a test on something that was completely irrelevant.
"The periodic table song," Elias said. "There's Hydrogen, and Helium, then Lithium, Berrylium - "
"Stop it, you're embarrassing me."
Elias's smile was nothing short of amused. "Boron, Carbon, everywhere, Nitrogen all through the air..."
"Thank you very much, Mr. DuPont," Dr. Nguyen said from the front of the class in regards to Elias who had caught the attention of the entire class by singing.
"Sorry," Elias said sheepishly. But it was so endearing that even Dr. Nguyen smiled.
I could hear girls in the classroom gushing about Elias. It was extremely sickening to listen to.
After Dr. Nguyen handed out the papers, he ordered us to write the first 20 elements on the periodic table, along with every single cation and anion. He told us we would get bonus points if we manage to draw out the ECS - whatever the fuck that is.
"Electrochemical series," Elias said to me, as though reading my mind.
Needless to say, I failed two tests today. And for the first time in a very long time, I felt subpar compared to everyone. Academic-wise.